Tobacco packaging warning messages

Some 250,000 Turkish citizens have quit smoking with the help of "Alo 171," a phone line connecting smokers with the health officials who help them to quit, the country's Health Ministry has said.

In a statement issued for May 31, World No Tobacco Day, the ministry highlighted that more than 700,000 people called the line in 2021 and more than one third succeeded in quitting.

Every year on May 31, World No Smoking Day is celebrated at the initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The initiative is held around the world, highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and calling for effective policies to reduce consumption levels.

A decade after the introduction of a general ban on smoking in enclosed public places in Greece, the country still lags behind other nations in the effort to restrict the addictive habit, the Hellenic Cancer Society (HCS) said on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day 2019 on Friday.

Turkey will launch a new anti-smoking campaign in the coming months after an increase in the number of smokers has been observed, the health minister has said, vowing a struggle with the tobacco industry through new regulations to stipulate closed and special chambers for smokers in cafes and restaurants.

Every year the third Thursday of November marks the International Smoking-free Day. This year, the Ministry of Health decided on November 16, 2017, the motto of the campaign to be "Stop now for better health tomorrow", reported the Bulgarian National Television. 

A court in Turkey has rejected a man who sought compensation by claiming the photo of the person seen on the warning message of cigarette packets was of him with a breathing tube in his mouth at a hospital.

In the European Region of the World Health Organization (WHO) only in Bulgaria the women who smoke are more than men. This was what Professor Mihail Okolyyski from the office of the world organization in Bulgaria said.

He said that in this region 28% of the adult population smoke and he also pointed out that people who smoke have a higher risk of getting a heart attack.

Tobacco use has declined markedly since 2000, according to a new WHO report, but the reduction is insufficient to meet globally agreed targets aimed at protecting people from death and suffering from cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

The Turkish Health Ministry will extend free medicine to some 300,000 citizens who wish to quit smoking, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Turkish Health Ministry's decision was issued in the Official Gazette on May 6. 

Phillip Morris has launched a new cigarette product in the UK market that it claims to be healthier than its conventional tobacco products. Its smokeless cigarette is described by some as a “hybrid between analogs and electronic cigarettes.”